1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cryosurgical procedures and more particularly to a cryosurgical monitoring system with a temperature feed back control system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, cryosurgical systems have been made to apply extremely low temperatures (i.e. xe2x88x9220xc2x0 C. to xe2x88x92200xc2x0 C.) to a small region of treatment in a patient by accurately placing the cryosurgical probe and controlling the rate of cooling applied to the region of treatment. It is possible to ablate the treatment region; however, it is difficult for the user to set the rate of cooling for a given treatment region since the heat load may vary from one treatment region to another. Though the user might know the desired temperature, he may not be able to accurately control the rate of cooling to achieve the desired temperature in the treatment region.
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to compute the cooling rate based on the desired temperature thus making it easier for the user to achieve the desired temperature at various treatment regions.
This and other objects of the present invention are achieved by the present invention which in a broad aspect, is a software module for a software controlled device for performing cryosurgical procedures on a treatment region with a cryosurgical probe. The software controlled device is of a type that is responsive to user input settings. The software module includes a temperature feedback control system which is adaptive to the external heat load of a treatment region and utilizes user input settings for determining an optimal rate of gas flow through a cryosurgical probe thereby enabling the user to precisely monitor and deliver a cryosurgical treatment.
In another broad aspect, the present invention comprises a cryosurgical monitoring system for use with a cryosurgical probe that receives gas from a gas supply. The cryosurgical monitoring system includes a software controlled device that includes a software module, an electronics module, a pneumatics module and a user interface. The software module provides an interface for monitoring and controlling cryosurgical procedures in response to user input settings and real-time electronics feedback. The software module includes a temperature feedback system which is adaptive to the external heat load of a treatment region and utilizes user input settings for determining an optimal rate of gas flow through a cryosurgical probe thereby enabling the user to precisely monitor and deliver a cryosurgical treatment. The software module provides control data output. The electronics module receives the control data output from the software module and provides the real-time electronics feedback. It also provides an electrical output. The pneumatics module receives the electrical output and provides a pneumatics module output feedback signal to the electronics module. The pneumatics module provides a pneumatic output to a cryosurgical probe. The user interface includes a user input element and a user output element. The user input element provides the user provided settings to the software module.